Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel first-look photo brings the gang back together

Guess who's back, back again? The cast of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is back, tell yo' friends.

Filming on Sony Pictures' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel is well under way, and one of the film's brightest stars and biggest social media-lovers shared a first-look snap at the actors together again behind the scenes.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who portrayed archeologist and explorer Dr. Smolder Bravestone in the 2017 original and will reprise his role for the follow-up, took to Instagram on Tuesday and posted a photo of himself with co-stars Kevin Hart (who plays zoologist and weapons carrier Franklin "Mouse" Finbar), Karen Gillan (who portrays martial arts expert Ruby Roundhouse), and Jack Black (the man behind archaeologist, paleontology, cartographer, and cryptographer Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon). The foursome stand strong in their OG costumes (one of which caused quite the controversy a little while back), looking directly at the camera and giving their best sort-of-smoldering faces.

To offset his and his castmates' serious expressions, Johnson wrote a fun little poem in the photo's caption: "Yes, you're favorite band is back ~ lookin' lean (ish) and mean / Even though things may not be as they seem / So buckle up world because soon we'll all play / When a brand NEW JUMANJI drops this Holiday! Oh the fun you're gonna have. Love, The Smoldering Dr. Bravestone." He added to the end of the caption the hashtags #NewAdventuresAwait, #TheGameThatPlaysYou, and #JUMANJI, and promised that the film will be out in theaters in time for Christmas. Sony has the yet-untitled Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel scheduled for release on December 13.

It's great to see that production on the second Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle film — which is the third one in the overall Jumanji franchise, as the flick from 2017 was a reboot-slash-sequel to the '90s classic that starred Robin Williams as a man trapped in the titular magical board game — is trucking along, but what's slightly concerning is that the movie is only nine months from launching and no plot details have been released. More than that, Sony has yet to formally title the film or tease what's to come in the sequel's story. Perhaps the studio is purposefully keeping its cards close to the chest, waiting until the superhero hype surrounding Captain Marvel, Shazam!, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home dies down in the summer to make big announcements about the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel. It would be wise considering how everyone and their mother is fawning over the Marvel and DC movies and can't really devote a lot of time to focusing on other films releasing at the end of the year. Holding off until, say, mid-July after Spider-Man: Far From Home arrives in theaters to reveal juicy information about the new Jumanji movie might be Sony's best course of action.

The upshot of this is that Johnson's posting of the first photo from the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle follow-up suggests that more behind-the-scenes sneak peeks will come soon. This means we'll likely get looks at the new crew joining Johnson, Hart, Gillan, and Black for the sequel — like Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina, who plays a "significant" part in the upcoming movie, as well as Danny Glover and Danny DeVito — before too long.

Until then, we'll have to wait patiently until the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel, directed by Jake Kasdan, opens in theaters on December 13.